As carbon dioxide emissions have increased due to the use of fossil fuel, global warming has become increasingly more severe. As fossil fuel is gradually being exhausted, interest is increasing in alternative energies to replace fossil fuel.
Furthermore, such an interest in alternative energy has led to the coining of the term “Green Growth”.
The term “Green Growth” refers to saving and efficiently using energy and resources to reduce climate change and environmental damage and achieve energy independence. The idea of “Green Growth” also refers to researching and developing clean energy and green technology to resolve the current global economic crisis and create new areas of growth and jobs. The notion of “Green Growth” was first mentioned in <The Economist> on January 2000 and started to be widely used at the Davos Forum (World Economic Forum).
“Seoul Initiative on Green Growth” was adopted in the Ministerial Conference on Environment and Development in Asia and the Pacific 2005 (MECD 2005) and has become a major policy issue in The United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP).
Such policy direction for Green Growth is aimed at green-house gas reduction, reducing use of fossil fuel, strengthening energy independence, strengthening capability to adapt to climate change (adaptation to climate change and energy independence), green technology development, green growth industry, green industry development, upgrading of the industrial structure, creation of a green economic base (new growth power creation), green land and green traffic environment creation, green revolution, and implementing policies so that the Republic of Korea can be a model for global green growth (improvement of the quality of life and enhancing the position of the nation).
As interest in Green Growth increases, there have been efforts to use environment-friendly liquefied animal and vegetable oil in lieu of fossil fuel as a fuel for combustion apparatuses.
Fossil fuel emits carbon dioxide when it burns. Emitted carbon dioxide contributes to global warming. Of course, vegetable oil also emits carbon dioxide when it burns, but plants that become raw material of vegetable oil absorb carbon dioxide from the air while growing. Taking the amount of carbon dioxide emitted when vegetable oil burns and the amount of carbon dioxide absorbed to plants that are used as the raw material of vegetable oil into account, the amount of carbon dioxide emitted from vegetable oil can be substantially zero.
Despite having such advantages, liquefied animal and vegetable oil has not been used as fuel for combustion apparatuses. The reason for this is that generally fuel oil for combustion apparatuses must have suitable ignitability and be low in viscosity, but liquefied animal and vegetable oil has a comparatively high ignition point and has high viscosity, making ignition difficult and increasing a tar generation rate. Due to such characteristics of liquefied animal and vegetable oil, they must be processed to reduce the viscosity to a degree suitable for use as a fuel oil. However, it is expensive to process liquefied animal and vegetable oil. Thus, there is no economic feasibility in the current art.
Consequently, development of a combustion apparatus that can use even liquefied animal and vegetable oil, which has low ignitability and high viscosity, as fuel oil without separate processing, is urgently required.